Back to Bologna

Yesterday as I was writing yesterday's Exploring with a Camera: Found Texture post I rediscovered an image for my market/wheels series. Taken over a year ago, this street scene in Bologna captured my interest for the texture, the scooter and the bustling street market. It was taken before I "discovered" my market/wheels series early last year. How many more images for this series do I have, hidden in my archives? I hope to find out.

As part of my goal to seek balance, I want to go back and sort through the thousands of images from my time in Italy. Seek a balance of working with the old and the new. Some of these images have been reviewed, edited and shared, but many, many more have not. I know I will learn more and see more with this review, both about myself and my photography. And hey, I can learn how to categorize and edit even more in Lightroom too, at the same time. Perfect.

I hope you all have a great weekend planned! I'll be working on my website, getting it ready to launch very shortly. I would love to have you to visit me in a few places, while I'm busy working...
- Musing on "home" at Mortal Muses, with a story of quilts, handmade with love.
- An interview on the Seek Your Course blog with me.
- Today I am the "Sparkling Sponsor" for the World's Biggest Summit. Yay! Welcome to all coming by! You can still sign up and join in this great, free class.

Exploring with a Camera: Group of Three

Welcome to Exploring with a Camera Thursday! Today we are going to be exploring Groups of Three in photographic composition. At the end of the post there is a link up, for you to share your images using groups of three. If you want a chance for your image to be featured here on the blog next week, you can also place your photo in the Exploring with a Camera Flickr group. A big hello to Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday participants - I'm always happy to have you joining me here!

A general principle of design, in decorating or any visual art, is to use odd numbers. A composition with odd numbers is pleasing to the eye. Why? In the Visual Composition article on Wikipedia, it states the "rule of odds" works "by framing the object of interest in an artwork with an even number of surrounding objects, it becomes more comforting to the eye, thus creates a feeling of ease and pleasure."

A group of three, versus a larger odd number, is fun to work with in photography. It is small enough that compositions are simple and uncluttered, yet also large enough to provide a lot of variation in how the group can be presented. I have found there are many ways that groups of three work compositionally. Let's take a look...

Basic Geometry


Going back the basics, three objects can be arranged to form one of two things: A line or a triangle. There are no other options. This is great from a compositional standpoint - we can use lines and triangles!  I did some experimenting last weekend with my origami cranes. No matter how I arranged them, they are either in a line or a triangle, but the creative possibilities are endless.

Taking three objects on a simple background and arranging them into different compositions as I did is a great exercise. You can really play around with the photographic possibilities found in groups of three.

Most of the time I'm photographing in the "real world" though, which means I'm capturing what is already there and choosing my composition solely by framing. In all cases, you will see it comes back to the basic geometry: lines and triangles. For my eye specifically, I use mostly lines.

Pointing out Differences


A group of three can be a great way to compare differences. In the lead-in image of this post, a pretty little scene discovered in Cascais, Portugal, the orange buckets are flanked by the two candle holders. Even though the candle holders are different colors, the similarity of shape and size of the candle holders serves to highlight the difference of the stack of buckets. This image also has a group of three within a group of three with the stack of buckets, but you don't notice the stack (which are similar) as much as you notice the buckets (which are different).

This image of mailboxes on a wall in Sicracusa, Sicily highlights differences in the group of three. They are all post boxes, yet the interest is that they are all different. Being slightly out of line on that fantastically textured wall adds interest too. (I also noticed the colors are the Italian Tricolore - go back and take a look at the images in that post again with an eye to groups of three.)

These lockers are framed as a group of three, but the repetition of the pink lockers serves to highlight the differences in the locks. Notice all of the lines - the locker outlines, the row of handles, and the contrasting diagonal line formed by the ever-smaller locks.

Using Similarities


Even while a group of three may be useful to highlight differences, using similarities in a group can get you to pleasing composition.  For these paperweights of Murano glass from Venice, the group of three forms a line to bring your eye to the focal point. Since the paperweights are all similar in color and shape, they don't distract the eye.

I love this image of flower pots on the steps in Varenna, Italy. The pots are similar in color and shape, and form a line that contrasts nicely with the lines of the stairs. The contrast in color along with the intersection of lines draws the eye to look closer at the pots, where you begin to notice the subtle differences in their shape and size. 

This image from Mt. Etna in Sicily uses the similarity of the tree silhouettes to catch your eye. Since there is no "obvious" tree of the three, you begin to see the subtle detail of the landscape illuminated behind as you look closer. I love images that hold layers of detail in them like these trees and the flower pots above. Groups of three seem to be a good way to initially pull a viewer in, where they remain to explore the multiple layers.

Groups of three are also great for highlighting architectural details and spaces. In this image of the Roman Bath in Bath, England, a composition of three openings serves to highlight the structural design of the baths. You notice the details that repeat multiple times - pillars, torches, archways. The reflection only serves to emphasize the group of three and the details further.

Clustered vs. Spread


In preparing for this topic, I've noticed that my images with groups of three usually have the objects in the group spaced evenly. These prehistoric pots from the Orsa archeological museum in Siracusa are a good example. Even though they are presented front-to-back rather than side-to-side as many of the images above, there is still an impression of even spacing and they are spread to fill the image.

This example of architectural details in a stone wall is from Bologna. By their design, the blocks are evenly spaced. By presenting them as a group of three in a diminishing line spread across the frame, the repetition of the blocks and carvings is shown while highlighting the detail of the single carving in focus.

Even though I don't seem to use them often, groups of three work fantastic in clusters. I have a classic interior design image in my head: Three vases of varying sizes clustered together on a mantlepiece. In a cluster, a group of three becomes a unique object of its own. The group is the object. In the image below, the subject is "art for sale" and the group of three paintings illuminated form that subject.

As you review the images in your archive, take new images or just go about your daily life these next couple of weeks, notice groups of three. Are they found clustered or evenly spaced? Do you see the groups in lines or triangles most often? Are they used to highlight similarities or differences? How else can you see to use groups of three in your compositions?

I can't wait to see what you find, I always learn something new when we explore together. Link your images in below or share them in the Flickr pool. The link tool will remain open through April 5. Have fun exploring!

Momentous Work

I truly believe that ignorance is bliss. I believe there are times starting things without a clue as to the work involved is a good thing.

Being full of uneducated optimism, we start down a path. We don't ask people who know, who have followed this path before, because they might say, "Wow, you have no idea what you taking on." And they might tell us, and burst our bubble. Or if they do tell us, we don't listen, being so full of our wonderful idea.

Bringing an idea into the world, whether it be a novel or a business or a painting, is hard enough work without knowing the full extent of the effort. Having the courage to take things on and start, one little bit at a time, can sometimes seem momentous on its own. Once you are caught up in the wave of creative expression, you find you believe in your idea and want to make it work, at any cost. You are willing to surmount any obstacle to get it done and out in the world.

I've learned a small piece of this truth lately, with my Find Your Eye class. I'm celebrating a little bit this week because I finished the final edits on the course two days ago. Yes, the class has already started, we are in week three. No, my schedule did not go as planned. "Finishing" ended up being much more work than I expected. Than my family expected. Most of my free time in the last month was spent in editing, rewriting and finalizing the material. Considering I work full time, have a family and we travel quite a bit, that was limited time.

Would I do it again? Absolutely, in a heartbeat. I am so proud of how the material has come together into a cohesive whole. I am loving the class, seeing these ideas and tools in the hands of new people who are finding value in them. I know that this was the right thing for me to do.

Would I have started, had I known the real work involved? It's hard to know, but I suspect not. If I had known I would give up so much of my precious free time in Italy for this at the outset, I might have thought, "Oh, I'll just start that when I move back to Oregon." The problem is, I needed to do it now, while the ideas where real and fresh to me. So, like any starry-eyed person with an idea, I started without knowing the effort involved.

I believe that this is one of life's little tricks, to allow us begin on a path without knowing the full extent of work we will have to do. It may be the only way to get us invested at the outset, so that we bring new, good, amazing ideas into the world to share. If we truly knew the cost, we might stay on the couch and read a book. Instead, we create.

Ignorance is bliss. I'm a firm believer. How about you?

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

I love ya, tomorrow. You're only a day away...


Do I have you singing the song from "Annie" yet? I hope so! Tomorrow is the start of Find Your Eye, and it's only a day away! I'm so excited. I chose this picture from Bologna today on purpose. I loved the row of scooters, just repeating off into the distance, but this first one had it's own unique touch - a yellow daisy in the windscreen. Just like all of us, who are unique and have our own little touches to share with the world in our photography. It's not too late to join the class if you are interested.

If the class is not for you, lots of great stuff will be going on here in the The Kat Eye View of the World! I'll be back with regular posts next Tuesday, giving you a first look at our trip to Spain and Portugal. Exploring with a Camera returns this month on a regular schedule after a holiday hiatus, and I'm bursting with ideas. In the last week I've also posted on monochromatic color at Mortal Muses and on my 2010 Word of the Year at Christine Kane's blog, stop by and see me there too!

Sing with me now...

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow. You're only a daaaaay aaaaa-waaaaay!

Lessons from Abroad: Change up Your Schedule

I am off to Spain and Portugal this week for vacation so I decided to schedule some posts. I recently wrote a series of articles entitled "Lessons from Abroad" for a friend's coaching newsletter and blog about lessons I've learned from my experience living in Italy which helped me find my passion and purpose. I never posted links to the last two articles here, so I decided to repost all of the articles this week to give them a home on my blog as well as share them with you.  Enjoy!

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Lessons from Abroad: Change up Your Schedule

Imagine… dropping out of your normal life for a couple of years, having the chance to completely immerse yourself in something new, and reevaluating your direction in life. And then, when it’s all over, come back to where you started again.

That’s where I am, what I’m doing - living and working in Italy on a two year assignment. Two years ago, my corporate management job led me to a project that would require placing people on temporary assignment abroad. I was to be the hiring manager for two positions, yet after my first business trip to Italy, I found the growing urge to apply for the job myself. Fast forward a few months of family decisions and applications and interviews, and I had the job. Months of immigration applications and paperwork and waiting and waiting later, and I had moved to Italy.

Now what? The plan: Learn to live in Italy with my family. Work. Travel. Then come home a little wiser about the world and ready to take up my career track again. I was all set. But life has a way of surprising us, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. What I’ve discovered in my time in Italy is my true passion, where my heart and purpose lies, and it’s not the management chain in a corporate job.

How did this happen? I wasn’t really looking for this, at least not at the beginning. But somewhere along the way, the changes I have made in my life while living abroad have led me to find something new. I’ve learned to follow my heart, listen to my intuition, and it’s been amazing what I have learned about myself. The move to Italy has, first and foremost, made me more aware: Aware of my surroundings, and how they affect me; Aware of the limitations I have been putting on myself; Aware of the choices I truly have, if I let myself be open to possibilities.

You might be thinking, that’s great and all, but how can translate to me? I’m not ever going to live abroad. I don’t have any plans to just pick up my family and move for two years. I can’t risk the stability of my job, my life, my family in order to seek my path in this way. But I believe that there are some key things that moving to Italy has done to increase my awareness and my ability to understand myself, and it’s not all about living in another culture. I have boiled it town to five things that anyone can do, no matter where you live or what you do for a living. In practicing these you can open up the possibilities, become more aware, and find your true path that lies somewhere deep within.

Over the coming days, I’ll go through each of the five, explaining why these have worked for me and some ideas of how you can use them too. The first key I’ll share today, starts with finding your creative time: Change up Your Schedule

My job in Italy requires an altered work schedule. I still directly work for an organization on the west coast of the United States, with a nine hour time difference from where I live. This means that I have to work both on site in Italy and on the phone back to the US on a daily basis. On one of my early business trips, before the move, I realized that it’s easy to work two full work days in this situation – head into the office in the morning, wrap up the day up with teleconferences in the afternoon, and then, in the evening get on the computer for more work at the same time everyone back in the US is working. While that was sustainable for a week long business trip, that just wouldn’t work for me and my family over the next two years.

The schedule I practice to limit the “two work day” situation is this: I work afternoons, from around noon to six, in the office. Then I head home, have dinner, hang out with my family, do my personal things, tuck my son into bed and get back online and on the phone for a couple of hours of work with my coworkers in the US. This may sound awful, and it certainly makes for short evenings, but the side effect is the most amazing thing - it has freed up my mornings.

I am a morning person, I always have been. I like to get up early, have my quiet time before getting into the day and interacting with people. The morning is also my creative time. Ideas come more readily, I have creative energy and everything just flows. For the first time in my life, on a regular basis more than the weekends, I now have this creative time every day. To do what I want. Read what I want. Journal. Explore and play creatively. Go for a walk.

When I spend my mornings this way, on my creative endeavors and activities of choice – I find that I am refreshed, balanced and ready for the rest of the day. I am able to disconnect with all of the stress that my corporate job brings. I also have found that I have all sorts of ideas that come to me in the morning, along with the time to explore them. I can search for more information, try out something new, build a plan.

The irony is, I’ve always known mornings were my creative, productive time. For years I’ve gone to into the office early in order to have this time to get my best work done. Then I would leave in the afternoon to get home early and spend time with my family, but I never felt creative in the afternoon or evening. It was more about recuperating from the day and getting to bed early so I could do it all over again. By managing my schedule this way, I contributed at a high level to my organization, but the sacrifice was that I was giving my most creative energy to the company. I didn’t have that much left over for me.

Where you spend your creative energy is important. Having some creative energy to spend is one of the keys of finding yourself. How can you find your true path if you don’t have the energy to explore ideas? If you don’t have the open time to imagine, build up and evaluate the dreams that come to you along the way? I had never thought about those things before this change in my schedule, but it makes so much sense now. It’s important to understand what your creative energy schedule is, and then look at how and where you are spending that energy. A simple change in schedule can reap huge rewards.

Now that I’m not spending my most creative time at work, you may wonder if my job performance has suffered. The answer is, really, no. Work takes a different part of my brain, and when I’m working I’m there and focused and productive. I work the same number of hours; I have the same amount of time free as before – it’s just when. I honestly don’t think that anyone at work has even noticed there is a change. The difference for me personally is huge though - I can now disconnect from work, use other parts of my brain, and am more centered. I think this ultimately makes me a better employee, and it certainly has made me a more pleasant person to be around for my family, friends and coworkers.

Here are my ideas about how you can apply this key concept of “Change up Your Schedule” to your life too:

• Figure out your most creative, productive time of day. I think we might all instinctively know it, as I did. If you are not sure, keep some notes, check in with yourself. Try out some different times of day as “free.”
• Then, work toward carving out some or all of that time for yourself. Can you rearrange your work schedule? Can you schedule a meeting with yourself? Get out of the office and go for a walk? Start with just a day or two a week, and work up. You don’t have to explain it to anyone else, just do it, if you can.
• When you get that time, don’t waste it. Use it for things that build you up in some way – engage you creatively, working toward some dream or goal that you might have. That might be as simple as reading a book that sparks your interest or searching out websites that help you in some way. But use that time for you, not for anyone else. You will be surprised what blooms in the garden of time and creative energy that you create.

For me, the next challenge will be protecting this time when the assignment is over, I move back and have to adjust my work schedule again. I’m already strategizing on how to do this. It will mean changing things up from what I did before, and I will have to work through and reset expectations of those who have worked with me for years. But now that I know this important key, this secret to harnessing my creative energy, I’m not about to give it up.

(Photo is from Bologna, Italy)

Random Radishes

This morning I came to the blog... and had no idea what to write. So I just looked through my photos and picked this one of radishes. Kind of random, but I love radishes. Both the taste (the stronger the better) and the pop of color they provide. This bunch was spotted outside a fruit and vegetable market in Bologna. There is something so wonderful about a storefront lined with boxes of fruits and veggies. As if there is so much abundance it has to spill out onto the street and get in the way of passers-by.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! There is still time to join the giveaway and blog hop that started yesterday. Come on by!

Images and Words

If an image is worth a thousand words, why do I find myself writing so much? This is an interesting quandary I have found myself in... As my passion for photography has increased, so has my need to express it. Not only in images, in words. Where I took the photo, why it caught my eye, how it makes me feel, what I've learned from the experience, how you can do it too... writing, writing, writing.

The surprising thing, to me, is that I have discovered that I enjoy it. I like to write. I like to find the words to express myself, to bring an idea into reality. To help someone understand something new, maybe see things in a different way. I never though of myself as a writer, yet here I am writing, almost every day. I think I'll add it to my little "I am" statement...

I am an artist, a photographer and writer, and I have a unique vision 

to share with the world.

It feels a little weird. Like a new style I'm trying on, one that looks good but I'm not comfortable with it yet. I think I need to wear it a little while and see how it feels before I go off and change my "About Me" page. :)

Speaking of writing, what brought all of these thoughts to my mind -  my second article for Jenny of Rising Sun Coaching is now posted over on her blog. If you are interested in learning more about how I found my passion and purpose during my time in Italy, and how you can too, then give it a read. 

See you next week! We are off traveling this weekend. Venice again, the in-laws are in town for a visit. I know, rough life. :)

Exploring with a Camera: Frame within a Frame

"Frame within a Frame" is a compositional technique that I've had on my mind to share here, but was waiting for the perfect "frame" shot to lead off with. I found it in this shot from Bologna, looking through a bridge window into the buildings and canal beyond. Now that I'm writing this post and reviewing my archives, however, I am seeing that I use this technique more than I thought!

Frame within a Frame works for a couple of reasons:

• First, it serves to focus the eye of the viewer on a specific subject. When you look at a frame within a frame photograph, you are usually drawn directly to the frame and what is inside of it. Then you kind of visually take a step back and take in the whole of the image. In the photo above, you are immediately drawn to the jumble of windows and walls and the distant bridge within the frame. Then you back out and see that you are looking through a wall with graffiti.
• Second, it provides context for the image. You are looking through one thing - the frame - into something else. You have a better feel for where you are, as the viewer. It places the viewer of the photograph into a slightly different role. Instead of just looking at the photograph, they are looking through the photograph, from the frame into what is beyond. They are immersed in the image more completely. 

The "frames" that are within photo don't have to be windows, although these are used to good effect. Basically you are looking  for anything that serves to contain or frame the subject. The nice thing about a frame within a frame is that it doesn't have to be a straight line! The edges of our photographs are typically straight lines, with rectangular or square shape. Compositional frames we can use within our photographs can be any shape, from natural or man made.

In this image the eye is immediately drawn to the subject framed in the "white" of the overexposed window, and from there you move into the room to get the context of the boy (my son) standing at this very large window.

In this image from Padova, the subject is the bookstore, but the context is provided by the frame of the store window at night. The person walking by serves to punctuate the fact that we are looking into the store from outside.

I find that I use arches all of the time in my photography to frame a subject. It helps that they are almost everywhere in Europe! An arch is a nice contrast to the rectangular shape of the photo, as shown in this image from Brescia.

And here is one from Marksburg Castle, in the Rhine River Valley of Germany. This arch frames both a near and far vista, looking down the Rhine. It shows the strategic view the castle had of the surrounding area.

Yet another, this time an arch internal to the building, at Casa Battlo, in Barcelona. This arch frames the beautiful lines of the staircase curving upward.

Don't ignore the good old, square doorway though! This doorway serves as a frame, giving more depth to the alley beyond and leading your eye right to the window at the end.

Natural elements make great frames. I think you can probably conjure up images you've seen or captured looking through trees at a distant object or vista - the trees are the frame. The palm tree in the image below from Split, Croatia serves to frame the subject of the lighted building while also giving the context of where the photo was taken from, the waterfront promenade. I have photos of this building without the palm tree, and they are not as interesting as this one.

This may be a familiar photo to you, as I've used it in Exploring with a Camera before. The branches of the trees arching over and hanging down to the water, along with the reflections completing the the arch below, serve to frame the path and draw your eye right along it to the water beyond.

Finally, here is a more literally frame within a frame from Bologna. Instead of looking through the frame, you are looking at what is inside the frame. It takes the random jumble of advertising, ties it together and gives it context. It becomes street art on it's own.

So, now that you've seen a few examples of frame within a frame, how can you use this compositional technique?

1. The easiest place to start is to look for the obvious in our everyday lives - windows and doors. Look at these as frames. What do you see when you look through them? What do you see reflected in them? Consider the point of view from both sides of the frame - looking out and looking in.
2. Expand beyond the obvious to look for other opportunities for frames in our everyday spaces - hallways, mirrors and furniture are a few places to start. What other ideas can you come up with?
3. Look for frames in architecture. As with arches, architectural elements can make great frames for something beyond, as well as provide the context of where you are at when you take the picture.
4. Look for frames in nature. Trees make great frames, what other natural elements can you use to highlight your subject?
5. Try changing your focus point and exposure - focus on the frame as the subject, focus on the image beyond the frame as the subject. What works best? Why? For many of my Frame within a Frame images, I have done both and then picked the one that had the best feel.

Chances are you are already using this compositional principle without thought, as I was. Take a look at your photos, and see where you have used frame within a frame and what effect it had. Keep an eye out, notice how it is used in the images you see around you everyday on the web, in print, in TV and movies. Try to consciously use it this week if you can. Next week, you can come back and share your view here, I can't wait to see what you've captured!

P.S. I am no longer going to be using the Flickr group for sharing, it just hasn't gotten any traction, probably because I'm not loving it. We'll continue with linking in to the Share Your View follow up posts instead! If you have suggestions for other linking tools, please let me know. I'm looking at trying some different ones. Thanks for your participation!

What am I Doing?

"If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten." 

This quote, by either Anthony Robbins or Zig Zigler from what I can tell by some brief and wholly inadequate internet research, is what I'm pondering today. It makes so much sense, it is so clear. I read it and say to myself, of course, how would I get anything different if I'm always doing the same things?

Why then, do we so often stay with doing what we've always done? What keeps us there, when we dream of getting something different out of our lives? I think it's fear.... of failure, of losing something we already have, of being uncomfortable, of the unknown. If we change, try something new, put ourselves out there, what we get might be... worse. Better to stay with what we have. 

But what if we get something better? What about the successes, the new wonderful things, that might be waiting for us if we change? So easy to forget about that, to brush it under the rug of fears we keep ourselves stranded on. Don't leave this comfortable, warm little rug for the big, bad cold floor of life.

Am I doing what I can, to get something different out of my life? That is the question I'm asking myself today, trying to move off of my little rug.  How about you?

The Beauty of Reality

Yesterday we took a day trip to Bologna, a two and a half hour drive south of where we live. It's been a while since we've taken just a day trip, somewhere near by. We all enjoyed it - seeing someplace new, and then coming home to our own beds and another day of the weekend left to play around.

It was wonderful for me, to get out and shoot someplace completely new again. It's been a while since I've done that since I travelled to the US and then have been focusing on fall in the park lately. Loving every minute of that too, but this was refreshing. It was also amazing to me to notice how differently I see now, as compared to, say, a year ago. Back then, I would have never have "seen" this image. It would have been part of the alley I walked by, with lots of elements I avoid... graffiti, dumpsters, street signs, windows with bars. I mean, where are the flowers, the doorstep beauty? But I love this. This is back-alley Bologna. This is real life, with it's imperfections but worthy of capture anyway.

I think this is just another step along my journey. As I accept the imperfections in myself, I find I am able to accept them in the world around me. Apparently, that also means I am not always seeing just the lovely textures in the places we visit - but the reality of dumpsters and street signs. Finding interest in those too. And while I would not call this image "beautiful," it does appeal to me, and does say "Italy" in a very real way.

It's kind of fun to observe these changes in myself, to surprise myself. I also surprised my husband, who has gotten pretty good at being able to predict when to get out of the way for a photo, what little scenes might catch my eye. Yesterday, however, I messed him up because I was stopping to study things that would have never been photo-worthy to me before. Interesting to notice how it affected not just me, but him to.

And how does it affect you? Does it surprise you too? How do you look at this image? I think you may have to get used to it. There will probably be more graffiti and back-alley reality popping up around here, if my day in Bologna is any indication.